NEW DELHI: The BSE Sensex surged over 200 points in early trade on Thursday and moved past its crucial psychological level of 19,000 for the first time since July 2011.

The rise in the benchmark index was led by gains in ICICI Bank, HDFC and ITC. The 50-share Nifty was trading at 5,789, up 1.03 per cent.

At 9:40 a.m., the 30-share BSE index was trading at 19061.46, up 191 points or 1.01 per cent. ICICI Bank (1.3 per cent), HDFC (1 per cent) and ITC (0.96 per cent) led the gainers pack.

"The rupee rose to a five-and-half month high, breaching 52 to the dollar, on the back of gains in riskier assets and as the government is expected to announce further reforms measures," Reuters reported.

The rupee was at 51.99/52.01 to the dollar at 9.06 a.m. after rising to as high as 51.96 in opening trade.

The BSE Power Index was trading 0.8 per cent higher, the BSE Realty Index advanced 0.8 per cent and the BSE Oil & Gas Index was up 0.7 per cent while the BSE IT Index was trading 0.1 per cent lower.